| Change log entry 75102 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2022-06-26 23:45:34 GMT) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 71025 - submitted by 'sykul' >> Is there any other kind of equator? ------------------------------ Editor: I imagine your question is meant to be rhetorical, but in fact "equator" does have more than two senses. Here are some I found: 1. the earth's equator 2. the equator of a celestial body 3. the equator of the celestial sphere 4. (biology) the plane perpendicular to the spindle of a dividing cell and midway between the poles -- as in "During metaphase, the kinetochore microtubules pull the sister chromatids back and forth until they align along the equator of the cell." 5. the magnetic equator 6. the equator of a vegetable, as in "Lay the flat side from one half down on the cutting board and cut through the equator of the onion." 7. (geometry) a great circle So which of these senses does 赤道 have? #1 is in any Chinese dictionary. I have verified #2 – for example, it's in the Chinese Wikipedia article on Mars. #3 is in some Chinese dictionaries. #4 seems unlikely since it's a *plane* whereas 道 implies "line". Summing up: We *could* make the definition shorter and just say "equator", as you suggest. It's nice to be succinct. But since I've gone to the trouble of verifying #2, and it's a sense that's not in other dictionaries, I think we can mention it explicitly, just as other Chinese dictionaries do specifically mention sense #3. |
| Diff: |
- 赤道 赤道 [chi4 dao4] /equator (of the earth or astronomical body)/ # + 赤道 赤道 [chi4 dao4] /equator/ + 赤道 赤道 [chi4 dao4] /equator (of the earth or a celestial body)/celestial equator/ |